Man Arrested At Pease Park In Austin Had Weapons Cache

AUSTIN, TX — A man arrested at Pease District Park for having several weapons on him was in possession of something of an arsenal —a rifle outfitted with a bipod, sight scope and 30-round magazine — before a park visitor called police, according to a published report.

Patch learned of the cache of weapons over the weekend from a source at the University of Texas at Austin police department, which responded to the call along with the Austin Police Department on Aug. 14 given the park's proximity to university land. In a court affidavit secured by the Austin American-Statesman, the breadth of the arsenal is specified in the newspaper's report.

Police arrested Dalton Harley Broesche, 23, before charging him with unlawfully carrying a handgun and baton along with a charge of deadly conduct. According to the Statesman, police received reports of the man at around 1:30 p.m. last week to report the plaid-shirt-wearing Broesche was carrying both a rifle and large knife.

According to the source, police found the loaded rifle behind bushes at Pease Park — a popular destination for families where the annual Eeyore's Birthday Party day-long festival has taken place since 1963, drawing thousands of people on the last Saturday of April.

Related story: Armed Man Arrested At Austin's Pease Park

While Broesche drew formal charges for his behavior, it's increasingly difficult to distinguish those intent on doing harm from those exercising their support of the 2nd Amendment by toting their firearms openly — a perfectly legal display for gun rights advocates since passage of "open carry" championed by Gov. Greg Abbott and fellow conservatives that became law on Jan. 1, 2016. Today, the sight of gun rights advocates openly displaying their firearms — sometimes mingling at protests decrying immigration policy or other hot-button issues for optimum effect — are increasingly common sights in Austin, the state capital, at political demonstrations.

But the context behind Broesche's arrest bears eerie similarities to three other cases elsewhere in the country of armed young men caught with similar weaponry before police interdiction. This past weekend, CNN reported, police announced they foiled three potential mass shootings with arrests in three different states who expressed interest in or threatened to carry them out.

Although it remains unclear if Broesche expressed similar aims before his arrest, he was arrested like those other three men as a result of tips from the public before any violence occurred. The three other similar cases as reported by CNN were:

• In Connecticut, where 22-year-old Brandon Wagshol was arrested after allegedly expressing on Facebook of his interest in committing a mass shooting, according to the FBI and the Norwalk Police Department. Wagshol faces four charges of illegal possession of large capacity magazines, and was said to have been trying to purchase large-capacity rifle magazines. He faces four charges of illegal possession of large capacity magazines, and is being held on a $250,000 bond. He is scheduled to appear in court September 6. According to the statement, authorities received a tip that Wagshol was trying to buy large capacity rifle magazines from out of state.
• In Daytona Beach, Florida, Tristan Scott Wix, 25, was arrested at a store parking lot on Friday after sending an ex-girlfriend texts allegedly detailing plans to commit a mass shooting, according to the Volusia County Sheriff's Office said. "A good 100 kills would be nice," one message allegedly read, according to the sheriff's office.
• In Ohio, James Patrick Reardon, 20, was arrested for allegedly threatening to carry out a shooting at a Youngstown Jewish community center. An Instagram account controlled by Reardon shared a video that showed a man firing a gun, New Middletown Police Chief Vincent D'Egidio told CNN. The post, police said, tagged the Jewish Community Center of Youngstown, D'Egidio said.

Back in Austin, records show Broesche was being held at the Travis County Jail as of Wednesday under combined bail of $75,000. According to the affidavit, he also has a warrant from Harris County for aggravated assault, the Statesman noted.